Short answer. Yes. Rule 3, Section 12 of the Rules of Court gives any party in interest the right to intervene in a class suit to protect his individual interest — so being part of the group represented by the suit does not stop you from stepping in yourself.
What the law says
Any party in interest shall have the right to intervene to protect his individual interest.
Rule 3, Section 12 — Class suit. Read the full provision →
What the law says
When the subject matter of the controversy is one of common or general interest to many persons so numerous that it is impracticable to join all as parties, a number of them which the court finds to be sufficiently numerous and representative as to fully protect the interests of all concerned may sue or defend for the benefit of all.
Rule 3, Section 12 — Class suit. Read the full provision →
The right to intervene, expressly stated
Rule 3, Section 12 ends with a direct statement: any party in interest shall have the right to intervene to protect his individual interest. Being one of the numerous persons whose common interest is already represented in the class suit does not take away this right — the rule frames it as something any party in interest has, not something that only applies to people left entirely outside the suit.
How a class suit works in the first place
The same section explains what makes a class suit possible: when the subject matter of the controversy is one of common or general interest to many persons so numerous that it is impracticable to join all as parties, a number of them which the court finds to be sufficiently numerous and representative as to fully protect the interests of all concerned may sue or defend for the benefit of all. The suit proceeds through representative parties precisely because joining everyone individually is impracticable.
Why intervention still matters even with representation
A class suit is built around representative parties whom the court has found sufficiently numerous and representative to protect everyone's interests — but that is a general finding about the group, not a guarantee that every individual member's specific concerns will be addressed exactly as they would want. The right to intervene exists so a member with a distinct concern about their own interest is not left entirely dependent on the representatives' judgment.
What this section does not spell out
Section 12 establishes the right to intervene but does not itself set out the procedure for exercising it in a class suit specifically, or how a court weighs an individual member's intervention against the efficiency the class suit mechanism is meant to provide. Those questions depend on the general rules governing intervention and on the specific posture of the case.